A community-based radio station in Powell River has received a $97,000 partnership grant under the Community Radio Fund of Canada’s (CRFC) Radiometres program.
It is the third time Powell River Community Radio Society has received funding from CRFC. This grant award is unique in that it is jointly shared between CJMP-FM and two other community radio stations: CKTZ-FM Cortes Island and CKVS-FM Voice of the Shuswap, Salmon Arm.
All three stations are community organizations without an associated academic campus or student populations that might provide a yearly stream of human or financial resources. They are all in the early years of formation and looking for ways to develop sustainability. Similar goals include increasing each community’s knowledge of unique first nations communities, which include a combined total of seven nations.
“We all look forward to continuing the exciting conversations that began while planning this project,” said Zoë Ludski, CJMP program director. “There are many challenges ahead, including courageous conversations among community members.”
Although separated by long drives and multiple ferry rides, the three communities share common interests in arts and culture, the environment and building connections. Each is supported by a strong and passionate group of volunteers who work to keep the radio stations alive.
A shared goal is to increase volunteer engagement, manage memberships and build fundraising initiatives. This partnership, along with the skills and generosity of a CJMP board member, will allow the local station to develop an open source database to aid with logging, music library management, membership and outreach initiatives and volunteer hour tracking.
Mentorship and skill sharing will be an exciting outcome of SINCERE (strength in numbers: communities exchanging radio energies). CKTZ and CKVS have experienced programmers who are also elders of the Klahoose and Secwepemc Nation (Neskonlith band) respectively, who are willing to help mentor a producer from Tla’amin (Sliammon) Nation in the creation of language programming. Training manuals and technical developments will be swapped through a year-long series of professional development workshops designed for the participating stations by Ludski.
With Radiometres, the CRFC wishes to support high-quality music and spoken word programming and volunteer and diverse community participation in station activities. Jean-François Côté, CRFC president, said he is proud to add this project to its growing list of funded initiatives. “This kind of help is crucial and we think it can go even further in the future,” he said. “With increased funding per project and the new partnership option we initiated in this round of Radiometres, we hope to support collaborative and larger scope projects. This endorses the idea of strength in numbers—a belief already well-entrenched in the community radio sector. We hope to encourage stations to create even more links and to share their best practices.”
“This grant is not only a huge success for our stations, but for our communities,” said Ludski. “We believe in the power of community radio to build caring thoughtful communities. In sharing stories together we are learning to listen and hear our neighbour’s voice and our own.”
The CRFC supports more than 170 licensed campus and community radio stations across Canada. Its programs aim to strengthen local news and community programming, promote local music and emerging artists, support emerging distribution technologies, and contribute to the sustainability and capacity to effectively serve local communities.
For more information about Powell River Community Radio Society and SINCERE, readers can visit CJMP 90.1FM.
